LISWire - Latest Releases

PROVO, Utah, December 31, 2014 – Backstage Library Works (www.bslw.com) today announced the successful completion of a year-long RDA enrichment program designed to ensure consistency within library catalogs.During 2014, Backstage enriched more than 72 million records with RDA elements.

Nate Cothran, vice president of automation services for Backstage states:

“This has been a good year for RDA implementation. We are grateful to our clients for their interest in the service as well as their flexibility as we juggled to make sure each library’s needs were met.

“As we’ve continued to develop our systems to meet client requests, we’ve refined our services and expanded our options for customized processing. For 2015, we look forward to continuing work with both new and existing library clients interested in improving RDA description and access points in their catalogs.”

Backstage’s authority control system offers deep customization through an online profile, detailed planning guides and wikis, and a generous set of reports. Processing includes field validation and data cleanup, with optional local authority data preservation, matching against a number of specialized vocabulary files, and RDA enrichment. These services assist libraries in creating consistency and uniformity within their databases.

Backstage can upgrade existing non-RDA bibliographic records to RDA standards and re-describe the records as RDA in an automated fashion according to an institution’s preferences. To help libraries maintain newly updated catalogs with heading accuracy, and to benefit from future RDA-based discovery capabilities, Backstage offers new bibliographic record upgrades and authority updates as part of its authority control services.

About Backstage Library Works

Backstage’s objective is to provide the most technologically advanced and efficient means for delivering professional library services. With over 25 years of experience, the company is known for its expertise in handling complex and unique projects. Backstage specializes in solutions for cataloging, authority control, digitization, preservation microfilm, and on-site needs. In providing services to more than a thousand libraries, large and small, public and private, and in locations across the globe, Backstage has cultivated an understanding of libraries, their mission, their operations, and the challenges they face. Backstage offices are located in Provo, Utah, and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

ByWater Solutions, an open source community contributor and America's forefront provider of Koha support, announced today that the Carnegie-Stout Public Library in Indiana is now live their installation of the Koha open source ILS.

ByWater Solutions has completed the migration of Carnegie-Stout Public Library's nearly 170,000 items and over 37,000 patrons and will be providing ongoing Koha Support for them. Their custom mobile-friendly OPAC can be viewed at https://catalog.dubuque.lib.ia.us.

About Carnegie-Stout Public Library:
Carnegie-Stout Public Library serves the Dubuque and surrounding communities with a collection of over 270,000 volumes, 600 periodical and newspaper subscriptions, and a wide variety of audio and video materials. Collections of special note are an obituary file dating to the late 1850s and a newspaper index to the Telegraph Herald and other local newspapers. For more information about Carnegie-Stout Public Library, please visit: https://www.dubuque.lib.ia.us/

About Koha:
Koha is the first open-source Integrated Library System (ILS). In use worldwide, its development is steered by a growing community of libraries collaborating to achieve their technology goals. Koha's impressive feature set continues to evolve and expand to meet the needs of its user base. It includes modules for circulation, cataloging, acquisitions, serials, reserves, patron management, branch relationships, and more.

Koha's OPAC, circulation, management and self-checkout interfaces are all based on standards-compliant World Wide Web technologies–XHTML, CSS and Javascript–making Koha a truly platform-independent solution. Koha is distributed under the open-source General Public License (GPL). For more information about Koha, please visit: http://koha-community.org/

About ByWater Solutions:
ByWater Solutions is a full service, high quality support and implementation company dedicated to providing libraries with a lower cost, more advanced level of support for their ILS than a traditional proprietary solution can offer. ByWater Solutions has a proven track record in first rate Koha implementation and support with library systems of all sizes. Our highly ranked, comprehensive support is what sets our company apart from any other vendor in the industry. Partnering with ByWater Solutions to support Koha not only lowers the cost of implementing and maintaining an ILS, but more importantly empowers libraries by giving them the flexibility and freedom they deserve. For more information please visit: http://bywatersolutions.com/

Farmington Hills, Mich, December 22, 2014 — Patrons and automotive professionals can look to the public library for enhanced automotive reference information and professional development support with new additions to ChiltonLibrary, an online tool from Gale, part of Cengage Learning. Trusted by automotive enthusiasts for more than 100 years, Chilton manuals provide “do-it-yourself” support for all skill levels. ChiltonLibrary, the continually updated resource for libraries, offers access to repair, maintenance, and service information on cars, trucks, vans and SUVs, and now includes ASE certification preparation for professionals (from the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence) and an estimating tool to help consumers estimate repair costs and timing.

“With the addition of Chilton’s industry-standard proprietary labor times, patrons can evaluate repair estimates with confidence, while do-it-yourselfers can accurately gauge the time needed to complete a job themselves," said Phil Faust, vice president and publisher for databases at Gale. “In addition, ASE test preparation questions enable automotive industry professionals to assess their readiness to take the next ASE exam – which is often their ticket to career advancement.”

ChiltonLibrary provides step-by-step repair procedures as well as diagnostic trouble codes, descriptions, specifications, and troubleshooting for the most vehicle makes, models and years, while photos, illustrations, diagrams and multimedia (videos and animations) hasten and simplify complex tasks. Enhancements to the product include:

• ASE Technician Sample Tests – short sample tests, with content reviewed and approved by master technicians, that provide a high-level assessment of overall readiness to pass an ASE certification exam. Users gain a better understanding of their strengths and areas needing additional review. This feature supports the more than 300,000 automotive professionals nationwide who have earned the ASE Blue Seal of Excellence and must renew their certification every five years.
• Estimator Tool - allows patrons to estimate repair costs and timing and, when used with Chilton’s service and repair information, better understand what work should be included in the estimate. Three versions of labor times are provided: the manufacturer warranty time (OEM recommendation for dealer technicians), the regular time (closer to what a do-it-yourselfer might experience), and the severe service time (for vehicles operated under severe conditions).

About Cengage Learning and Gale
Cengage Learning is a leading educational content, technology and services company, empowering educators and driving learner engagement through personalized services and course-driven digital solutions that bridge from the library to the classroom. Gale, part of Cengage Learning, serves the world’s information and education needs through its vast and dynamic content pools, which are used by students and consumers in their libraries, schools and on the Internet. It is best known for the accuracy, breadth and convenience of its data, addressing all types of information needs – from homework help to health questions to business profiles – in a variety of formats. For more information, visit www.cengage.com or www.gale.cengage.com.

Farmington Hills, Mich. and Raleigh, NC, December 17, 2014 — Residents of North Carolina have expanded access to resources that will enhance economic development, support education and help improve quality of life through an agreement arranged by NC LIVE, North Carolina’s statewide public and academic library consortium, and Gale, a leading provider of library resources and part of Cengage Learning. Through local public and academic libraries, residents can access educational ebooks and literature, material to support study in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) topics and leading periodical content to support business development.

“We’re thrilled that libraries will be able to offer statewide access to a diverse selection of top-notch digital resources in 2015. Libraries are working together through NC LIVE to make a real difference in people’s lives for everyone from students working through their education, all the way to entrepreneurs who are jump-starting the local economy. We’re glad to have Gale working with us to make this happen in North Carolina,” said Jill Morris, assistant director, NC LIVE.

As part of this agreement, member libraries gain access to Literature Resource Center, a database that provides current biographical information, overviews, literary criticism, and reviews on more than 130,000 writers, supporting information literacy and the development of critical thinking skills for students. Literature Resource Center is available on the Gale Artemis platform meaning it is cross-searchable with other Gale literature resources in a library’s collection. Residents are also receiving expanded access to reference and non-fiction ebooks through Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL), Gale’s award winning ebook platform. GVRL supports all major ereaders and tablets and offers text-to-speech functionality and translation capabilities for multiple languages ensuring students have access to educational content on the go and in a variety of formats. In addition, Science in Context, which supports study of STEM topics – a field in which occupations are expected to grow 17% by 2018, will provide contextual information on hundreds of popular science topics by combining reference content with periodical and multimedia content in a user-friendly experience.

Supporting local economic development, renewed access to InfoTrac Newsstand will support local business by giving consumers and businesses access to news and current events from more than 1,000 major international and U.S. national, regional and local newspapers, including North Carolina publications. Thousands of images, radio and TV broadcasts and transcripts will also be available.

“Our mission at Gale is to help libraries deliver value to the communities they serve so we’re delighted to partner with NC LIVE to provide resources that will support scholarship, economic development and life-long learning,” said Paul Gazzolo, senior vice president and general manager, Gale.

About NC LIVE
NC LIVE is a statewide library consortium that provides shared digital content and services to North Carolina’s community colleges, public libraries, the UNC System, and NC Independent Colleges and Universities. Patrons of NC LIVE’s 200 members may access eBooks, magazines, newspapers, journals, streaming videos, and more online via library websites, and through www.nclive.org.

About Cengage Learning and Gale
Cengage Learning is a leading educational content, technology and services company, empowering educators and driving learner engagement through personalized services and course-driven digital solutions that bridge from the library to the classroom. Gale, part of Cengage Learning, serves the world's information and education needs through its vast and dynamic content pools, which are used by students and consumers in their libraries, schools and on the Internet. It is best known for the accuracy, breadth and convenience of its data, addressing all types of information needs – from homework help to health questions to business profiles – in a variety of formats. For more information, visit www.cengage.com or www.gale.cengage.com.

Idaho State University Makes the Switch to EBSCO Discovery Service™
~ University Upgrades to EDS from Primo Central ~

IPSWICH, Mass. — December 15, 2014 — Idaho State University Library, a Carnegie-classified doctoral research high institution, has opted to replace Primo Central Total Care with EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS) from EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) as its discovery solution. Side-by-side comparisons of the discovery tools prompted the university to make the switch to EDS.

As the library staff conducted comparative searches of EDS, they saw some major advantages. Chris Kowalczyk, Electronic Resource Librarian at Idaho State University says, “For us, relevancy ranking is important but what truly makes it work for us is the cooperation of including metadata from so many other vendors. EDS allows us to find the relevant content no matter what platform it is on.” The rich metadata from third parties is one aspect of EDS that allows its highly sophisticated, next generation relevancy ranking technology to produce the best results of any discovery service.

According to Kowalczyk, EDS aligns with the library’s goal to enhance the academic experience and offer the best technology available. “Our library strives to offer cutting-edge research and innovative solutions and we believe EDS will take research to the next level for our students and faculty. EDS is a very flexible tool that allows us to address very specific needs for our users. We were impressed with many of the features that cater to the needs of our students, particularly EDS’s customization features, widgets and its integration with our other databases and search tools.

EBSCO Discovery Service creates a unified, customized index of an institution’s information resources, and an easy, yet powerful means of accessing all of that content from a single search box-searching made even more powerful because of the quality of its relevance and value ranking technology.

About EBSCO Information Services
EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) is the leading discovery service provider for libraries worldwide with more than 6,000 discovery customers in over 100 countries. EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS) provides each institution with a comprehensive, single search box for its entire collection, offering unparalleled relevance ranking quality and extensive customization. EBSCO is also the preeminent provider of online research content for libraries, including hundreds of research databases, historical archives, point-of-care medical reference, and corporate learning tools serving millions of end users at tens of thousands of institutions. EBSCO is the leading provider of electronic journals & books for libraries, with subscription management for more than 360,000 serials, including more than 57,000 e-journals, as well as online access to more than 650,000 e-books. For more information, visit the EBSCO website at: www.ebsco.com. EBSCO Information Services is a division of EBSCO Industries Inc., a family owned company since 1944.
###

(Calgary, Alberta) EDGE Science Fiction & Fantasy Publishing is pleased to reveal the cover of "Wrestling With Gods" (Tesseracts Eighteen) edited by Liana Kerzner & Jerome Stueart; to be published in the spring of 2015.

"'Wrestling With Gods' (Tesseracts Eighteen)," says Brian Hades, owner of the EDGE imprint, "is an important collection of 24 science fiction and fantasy stories and poems that give readers a chance to see faith from the believer and the skeptic points of view in worlds where what you believe is a matter of life, death, and afterlife."

What Makes The Tesseracts Series Special:

The entire Tesseracts series (1985 - 2015) includes more than 315 ­Canadian authors, editors, translators, and special guests ­contributing more than 529 short stories and poems to the series.

Some of Canada’s best known writers have been published within the pages of the Tesseracts series — including Margaret ­Atwood, Susan Swan, and Hugo and Nebula award winning ­authors ­William Gibson, Spider Robinson, and Robert J. Sawyer.

About the Editors:

Liana Kerzner is an award-winning TV producer & writer who was also in front of the camera as co-host of the late night show Ed & Red’s Night Party, and is currently the host/writer of Liana K’s Geek Download, heard weekly on the internationally syndicated radio program Canada’s Top 20.

Jerome Stueart has taught creative writing for 20 years, teaches a workshop called Writing Faith and has been ­published in Fantasy, Geist, Joyland, Geez, Strange Horizons, Ice-Floe, ­Redivider, On Spec, Tesseracts Nine, Tesseracts Eleven, ­Tesseracts Fourteen, and Evolve: Vampire Stories of the New ­Undead.

The print edition of "Wrestling With Gods (Tesseracts Eighteen)" will be available in Canada on March 15, 2015, and in the USA on April 15, 2015. It's NOW available on Amazon Kindle (exclusive until February 24, 2015). You can get the anthology, literally hot off the virtual press at: http://bit.ly/wrestlingwithgodsT18

North Bethesda, MD, December 10, 2014- Julesburg Public Library is now live on the AspenCat LibLime union catalog for all collection and patron management services. With the addition of the Julesburg Library, CLiC AspenCat union catalog now has over 600,000 bibliographic records and over one million items.
About Julesburg Public Library
The Julesburg Public Library located in Julesburg, Colorado, has been serving its community for over seven decades now. The Julesburg Library was originally created by the Julesburg Women’s Club and has now been on the Colorado State Register of historical properties since August 8, 2001. The town of Julesburg has become a major shipping depot for the agricultural business and is also popular for its tailwater fishing.

About the CLiC Consortium
The Colorado Library Consortium (CLiC), headquartered in Centennial, Colorado, serves over 450 libraries throughout the state, many of which also belong to the AspenCat LibLime Koha union catalog. Currently the CLiC database includes over 700,000 items. Resource sharing is one of the key components of the system with libraries requesting over 1,200 items from each other every month. Requests are growing as more patrons discover how easy it is to request an item not held at his or her home library. CLiC is committed to maintaining AspenCat as a fully featured, patron-focused system. In partnership with the Colorado State Library, AspenCat offers integration with external databases using EZproxy, integration through the State Library’s Plinkit-based web site hosting service, and interconnectivity with SWIFT, the statewide ILL system. AspenCat also currently offers a cooperative purchase for downloadable audio books from Recorded Books and eBooks from the 3M Library Cloud system. For more information, please contact Shannon O’Grady at 303-422-1150 or SOGrady@clicweb.org.

About LibLime-PTFS
PTFS is the global leader in providing support for the Koha open source ILS. Rather than sell software licenses for static, hard-to-customize software products, the PTFS LibLime Division educates libraries about the benefits of open source, enabling them to make choices about how best to provide their communities and staff with better technology services. The PTFS LibLime Division then facilitates deployment of Koha in libraries by providing outstanding consulting, development, implementation, and support/hosting for libraries of all types and sizes. PTFS is also the developer of the world’s leading content management software, ArchivalWare, and specializes in meeting library personnel staffing requirements, digitization, and metadata keying services. For more information, see http://liblime.com or http://ptfs.com or http://archivalware.net.

ByWater Solutions, an open source community supporter and the U.S.’ forefront provider of Koha support, is happy to welcome Josh Barron as our new Eastern US Sales representative. Josh will join the ByWater team in bringing the Koha Open Source ILS to libraries in the Eastern United States.

Josh has a degree in Sports Management and Marketing from the University of New Haven. Before joining the team at ByWater he spent over 10 years of providing excellent customer service and sales in various retail environments.

Josh commented on his recent decision to join ByWater Solutions:

“I am thrilled to be joining the ByWater team. I look forward to working with and helping all current and future partners in every possible way.”

Nathan Curulla, Owner and CRO, commented:

“We are thrilled to welcome Josh to the ByWater family and I look forward to him spreading the word about the benefits of Koha to libraries! His enthusiasm for the open source model is contagious and we are very happy to have him on board.”

About ByWater Solutions:

With over 10 years of experience, ByWater Solutions offers customized hosting, data migration, configuration, installation, training, support options and development of the enterprise class open source library system, Koha. Offering a 24/7 technical helpline, ByWater Solutions’ clients have the support system they need to make their software work for them. ByWater Solutions pledges to share 100% of all developed code to the Koha community for the strengthening and advancement of the Koha ILS. For more information about ByWater Solutions, please visit: http://www.bywatersolutions.com

About Koha:

Koha is the first open-source Integrated Library System (ILS). In use worldwide, its development is steered by a growing community of libraries collaborating to achieve their technology goals. Koha’s impressive feature set continues to evolve and expand to meet the needs of its user base. It includes modules for circulation, cataloging, acquisitions, serials, reserves, patron management, branch relationships, and more.

Koha’s OPAC, circulation, management and self-checkout interfaces are all based on standards-compliant World Wide Web technologies–XHTML, CSS and Javascript–making Koha a truly platform-independent solution. Koha is distributed under the open-source General Public License (GPL). For more information about Koha, please visit: http://koha-community.org

IPSWICH, Mass. — December 8, 2014 — South Africa’s University of Johannesburg has implemented EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS) from EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) via Encore Duet, Innovative’s discovery solution. The university chose EDS for a simplified and streamlined search and for the relevant results found in EDS searches.

The university was pleased with the ease of implementation and EBSCO’s customer support. Janina van der Westhuizen, a librarian at the university, says, “The EDS rollout was done seamlessly with no negative impact to our users. We are pleased with the excellent support from EBSCO during and after implementation.”

Librarians at the University of Johannesburg were also impressed with EBSCO’s commitment to work with publishers in order to make more resources available in EBSCO Discovery Service. According to van der Westhuizen, the university expects 100 percent of its databases to become searchable in EDS. Also, with this discovery implementation, many of the university’s leading e-journal publisher packages will be easily accessible in the EDS results list through EBSCO’s linking technology.

EBSCO Discovery Service creates a unified, customized index of an institution’s information resources, and an easy, yet powerful means of accessing all of that content from a single search box-searching made even more powerful because of the quality of its relevance and value ranking technology.

About Innovative
Innovative (www.iii.com) is dedicated to providing leading technology solutions and services that empower libraries and enrich their users worldwide. Innovative offers one of the broadest and most complete portfolio of library automation products on the market today. Headquartered in Emeryville, California, Innovative serves thousands of libraries in 66 countries and has offices around the world. - See more at: http://www.iii.com.

About EBSCO Information Services
EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) is the leading discovery service provider for libraries worldwide with more than 6,000 customers in over 100 countries. EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS) provides each institution with a comprehensive, single search box for its entire collection, offering unparalleled relevance ranking quality and extensive customization. EBSCO is also the preeminent provider of online research content for libraries, including hundreds of research databases, historical archives, point-of-care medical reference, and corporate learning tools. EBSCO is the leading provider of electronic journals & books for libraries, with subscription management for more than 360,000 serials, including more than 57,000 e-journals, as well as online access to more than 650,000 e-books. For more information, visit the EBSCO website at: www.ebsco.com. EBSCO Information Services is a division of EBSCO Industries Inc., a family owned company since 1944.
###

ILLiad users who install Reprints Desk’s document delivery browser plug-in by February 28, 2015 may receive at no cost their selection of two articles valued at up to $100 in total. The offer is available only to new Reprints Desk library customers and for orders of single, full-text copies of scholarly research papers submitted via the Reprints Desk A-Z DocDel Collection add-on for ILLiad. ILLiad users can sign up for the promotion by registering online at http://info.reprintsdesk.com/illiad-account.

“Libraries at research-based universities are under intense pressure to evolve their collection development strategies to provide ‘just in time’ rather than ‘just in case’ access for growing faculty and student populations,” noted Ian Palmer, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at Reprints Desk. “Reprints Desk’s special copyright royalty rates can help academic libraries provide this access. This special promotion is designed to increase awareness of the numerous benefits of Reprints Desk, and to encourage academic libraries to sign up and get it now.”

Reprints Desk’s A-Z Academic Document Delivery Collection is comprised of specially priced scholarly journal articles from more than 40,000 publications – including content often embargoed by interlibrary loan (ILL) as well as hundreds of thousands of book records. Reprints Desk provides a high quality PDF of the article for a small transactional fee plus a special academic copyright royalty charge that can be as low as $15.00. Participating publishers currently include Elsevier, John Wiley & Sons, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Springer Verlag, Nature Publishing Group, The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and dozens of others.

Corporations, academic institutions, and government organizations around the world rely on Reprints Desk and its online platform Article Galaxy for legal, low cost access to full-text scientific, technical, and medical (STM) content. Since its inception, Reprints Desk has ranked #1 overall and in each category in every Document Delivery Vendor Scorecard survey of buyers from information analyst and advisory firm Outsell, Inc. For more information about Reprints Desk, visit www.reprintsdesk.com.

ABOUT ATLAS SYSTEMS
Atlas Systems, Inc. is a software development company dedicated to serving libraries. Founded in July 1995 with the mission of “promoting library excellence through efficiency,” Atlas is best known for creating the ILLiad interlibrary loan management system now exclusively distributed by OCLC and used by more than 1,100 libraries worldwide. Focused on bringing the benefits of automation to library processes that have not been addressed by other software services, Atlas has introduced Ares, an electronic reserves solution, and Aeon, an online request and workflow management system specifically designed for special collections libraries and archives.

ABOUT REPRINTS DESK®
Reprints Desk improves how journal articles and clinical reprints are accessed, procured, and legally used in evidence-based promotions, medical affairs, and scientific, technical, and medical (STM) research. Organizations fueled by intellectual property choose Reprints Desk because of its collaborative business approach, efficient article supply system and services, and commitment to quality post-sales support. Reprints Desk is a wholly owned subsidiary of Research Solutions, Inc.

ABOUT RESEARCH SOLUTIONS®
Research Solutions, Inc. (OTCQB:RSSS) and its wholly-owned subsidiary Reprints Desk, Inc. (www.reprintsdesk.com) are pioneers in providing on-demand access to scientific, technical, and medical (STM) information for life science companies, academic institutions, and other research intensive organizations. Our customers include 70% of the top 25 pharmaceutical companies in the world. Our cloud based software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution, Article Galaxy, provides customers with access to the over one million newly published articles each year in addition to the tens of millions of existing articles that have been published in the past, helping them to identify the content that is critical to their research. We have arrangements with numerous STM content publishers that allow electronic access and distribution of their content. In addition to serving end users of content, we also serve STM publishers by facilitating compliance with applicable copyright laws.

Forward-Looking Statements
Certain matters discussed in this press release may be forward-looking statements. Such matters involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially, including the following: changes in economic conditions; general competitive factors; acceptance of the Company's products in the market; the Company's success in obtaining new customers; the Company's success in technology and product development; the Company's ability to execute its business model and strategic plans; the Company's success in integrating acquired entities and assets, and all the risks and related information described from time to time in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the financial statements and related information contained in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K and interim Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. The Company assumes no obligation to update the cautionary information in this release.

PROVO, Utah, December 5, 2014 — Backstage Library Works (www.bslw.com), has seen significant growth in requests for its customizable RDA enrichment services. To date, Backstage has enriched more than 60 million bibliographic records with RDA elements for more than 60 client libraries.

To ensure consistency within their clients’ catalogs, Backstage conducted a survey among libraries on the subject of RDA implementation. In response to the feedback, Backstage offered its existing authority control customers the opportunity to receive free retrospective RDA enrichment for their AACR2 records. As a result, institutions with as few as 27,000 records to as many as 6.1 million gladly scheduled the service.

Noteworthy increase was also seen in 2014 among new clients opting for RDA enrichment. In 2013, 43 percent of new clients chose RDA enrichment for their bibliographic records. In 2014, 93 percent of new clients readily chose automated RDA enrichment as part of the process.

Nate Cothran, vice president of automation services for Backstage notes:

“Two key benefits with our RDA enrichment service are customization and consistency. Our libraries have let us know they want processing done the right way, which is their way, and we are happy to oblige.

With the Library of Congress and other national entities starting to add more RDA bibliographic records, running RDA enrichment for our clients’ catalogs introduces greater consistency for patrons and users alike.

We couldn’t be happier with the outpouring of support for our RDA enrichment services and for helping to make a difference to our clients and their catalogs.”

Backstage’s authority control system offers deep customization through an online profile, detailed planning guides and wikis, and a generous set of reports. Processing includes field validation and data cleanup, with optional local authority data preservation, matching against a number of specialized vocabulary files, and RDA enrichment. These services assist libraries in creating consistency and uniformity within their databases.

Backstage can upgrade existing non-RDA bibliographic records to RDA standards and re-describe the records as RDA in an automated fashion according to an institution’s preferences. To help libraries maintain newly updated catalogs with heading accuracy, and to benefit from future RDA-based discovery capabilities, Backstage offers new bibliographic record upgrades and authority updates as part of its authority control services.

Backstage’s objective is to provide the most technologically advanced and efficient means for delivering professional library services. With over 25 years of experience, the company is known for its expertise in handling complex and unique projects. Backstage specializes in solutions for cataloging, authority control, digitization, preservation microfilm, and on-site needs. In providing services to more than a thousand libraries, large and small, public and private, and in locations across the globe, Backstage has cultivated an understanding of libraries, their mission, their operations, and the challenges they face. Backstage offices are located in Provo, Utah, and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

IPSWICH, Mass. — December 4, 2014 — EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) announces that it has been selected for the EContent 100 List of Companies that Matter Most in the Digital Content Industry. EContent 100 is an annual listing of companies that have had an impact on the digital industry over the past year chosen by a panel of judges. EBSCO has consecutively made the EContent 100 since the list was established in 2001.

“This year we had three new judges and lots of new companies to consider,” said Theresa Cramer, editor of EContent “We also included a new category: Big Data. These days, data is the driving force behind almost everything on the web. From the targeted ads you see while surfing your favorite sites, to the articles and videos that those sites serve up to you, data is behind it all. Congratulations to all of the companies on this year's EContent 100 List and kudos on all they contribute to the digital content industry."

The EContent 100 List can be seen at www.econtentmag.com and in the December 2014 issue of EContent.

About EContent
EContent is a leading authority on the businesses of digital publishing, media, and marketing, targeting executives and decision-makers in these fast-changing markets. By covering the latest tools, strategies, and thought-leaders in the digital content ecosystem, EContent magazine and EContentmag.com keep professionals ahead of the curve in order to maximize their investment in digital content strategies while building sustainable, profitable business models

About EBSCO Information Services
EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) is the leading discovery service provider for libraries worldwide with more than 6,000 discovery customers in over 100 countries. EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS) provides each institution with a comprehensive, single search box for its entire collection, offering unparalleled relevance ranking quality and extensive customization. EBSCO is also the preeminent provider of online research content for libraries, including hundreds of research databases, historical archives, point-of-care medical reference, and corporate learning tools serving millions of end users at tens of thousands of institutions. EBSCO is the leading provider of electronic journals & books for libraries, with subscription management for more than 360,000 serials, including more than 57,000 e-journals, as well as online access to more than 650,000 e-books. For more information, visit the EBSCO website at: www.ebsco.com. EBSCO Information Services is a division of EBSCO Industries Inc., a family owned company since 1944.

EBSCO Information Services Names Tony Zanders Vice President of Global Customer Development
~Zanders Brings Library and Higher Education Experience; Will Serve as Conduit Between EBSCO and Libraries Around the World with a focus on Technology/Software Services~

IPSWICH, Mass. — December 3, 2014 — EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) continues to take a customer and user-centric approach to product development, with a focus on turning ideals such as interoperability, customization and optimal usability into reality. To ensure further advances in areas of discovery, analytics, library management services, holdings management, and other critical workflow & end-user applications, EBSCO has appointed Tony Zanders as Vice President of Global Customer Development. In this role, Zanders will work to delve deeply into the needs and goals of a wide array of libraries as it relates to optimizing both front and backend software services.

Zanders, an education technology veteran and former Director at Ex Libris commented, “The core mission of libraries is to provide patrons with the best possible user experience. EBSCO’s methodical investment in talent, technology and relationships is unmatched, creating an equally unmatched level of responsiveness to the rapidly changing needs of the 21st century patron. I look forward to working one-on-one with library leaders to understand the business and user needs that will further define EBSCO’s evolving suite of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions.”

EBSCO’s Executive Vice President, Sam Brooks, says Zanders brings unique experience and an understanding of what librarians expect from their technology products. “We believe that huge advancements are possible for libraries in the areas related to discovery, and Tony will help us foster two-way communication with a number of customers in North America, Europe, the Far East and beyond. We have admired Tony’s career and accomplishments, and are very pleased to bring him onto our team.”

Zanders has a strong technology background and has continually applied this expertise in the K-12 and higher education space. In addition to his years at Ex Libris, Zanders founded Applyful.com, a college discovery and research management platform which was awarded a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2013. Most recently he served as Head of Communications and Outreach at 4.0 Schools, an education innovation lab dedicated to improving the future of schools.

About EBSCO Information Services
EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) is the leading discovery service provider for libraries worldwide with more than 6,000 discovery customers in over 100 countries. EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS) provides each institution with a comprehensive, single search box for its entire collection, offering unparalleled relevance ranking quality and extensive customization. EBSCO is also the preeminent provider of online research content for libraries, including hundreds of research databases, historical archives, point-of-care medical reference, and corporate learning tools serving millions of end users at tens of thousands of institutions. EBSCO is the leading provider of electronic journals & books for libraries, with subscription management for more than 360,000 serials, including more than 57,000 e-journals, as well as online access to more than 650,000 e-books. For more information, visit the EBSCO website at: www.ebsco.com. EBSCO Information Services is a division of EBSCO Industries Inc., a family owned company since 1944.

"We are excited to publish ‘The Occasional Diamond Thief’" says Brian Hades, owner of the EDGE imprint. "It is a fun, fast moving science fiction YA story with a mystery/save the world theme coupled with the challenges faced by 16-year-old protagonist, Kia Ugiagbe. Although this story is targeted to YA readers, it is a story to be enjoyed by all ages!"

About "The Occasional Diamond Thief"

On his deathbed, Kia's father discloses a secret to her alone: a magnificent and unique diamond he has been hiding for years. Fearing he stole it, she too keeps the secret. She learns the gem comes from the distant colonized planet of Malem, where her father caught the illness that eventually killed him.

During Kia's training to be a translator, she is co-opted by a series of events into traveling as an interpreter to Malem. Using her prowess in languages - and the ability to pick locks - Kia unravels the secret of the mysterious gem and learns what she must do to set things right: return the diamond to its original owner.

But how will she find out who that is? And how can she bear to part with this last link to her father?

About the Author

J. A. McLachlan is a former college professor who lives in Waterloo, Ontario. She released her first science fiction book, "Walls of Wind", earlier this year. This will be Ms. McLachlan's fifth book. In addition to writing science fiction, she also published a collection of short stories entitled "Connections: Parables for Today", and two ethics text books.

Praise for J. A. McLaughlan

"J. A. McLachlan is a terrific writer - wry and witty, with a keen eye for detail. I've been following her work with interest and delight since 2003. In a world where young-adult fiction is booming, 'The Occasional Diamond Thief' propels McLachlan to the front of the pack.” -- Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award-winning author of "FlashForward"

"The Occasional Diamond Thief" will be available in Canada on April 15, 2015, and in the US on May 15, 2015.

In addition to the partner sponsored developments, Koha 3.16 includes:

There is now the ability to use different templates for notices based on how the notice is to be sent. For example, is now possible to use different wording for email and SMS hold notifications.

Users can now unselect active facets when refining search results.

Search history can be now displayed and managed in the staff interface.

Creating orders from staged files now offers much more flexibility.

The public reports service can now accept report parameters.

There is experimental support for Plack for development use.

The index update script can now operate as a daemon, allowing the indexes to be updated within seconds of a catalog record getting updated.

About Koha:

Koha is the first open-source Integrated Library System (ILS). In use worldwide, its development is steered by a growing community of libraries collaborating to achieve their technology goals. Koha’s impressive feature set continues to evolve and expand to meet the needs of its user base. It includes modules for circulation, cataloging, acquisitions, serials, reserves, patron management, branch relationships, and more.

Koha’s OPAC, circulation, management and self-checkout interfaces are all based on standards-compliant World Wide Web technologies–XHTML, CSS and Javascript–making Koha a truly platform-independent solution. Koha is distributed under the open-source General Public License (GPL). For more information about Koha, please visit: http://koha-community.org

About ByWater Solutions:

With over 10 years of experience, ByWater Solutions offers customized hosting, data migration, configuration, installation, training, support options and development of the enterprise class open source library system, Koha. Offering a 24/7 technical helpline, ByWater Solutions’ clients have the support system they need to make their software work for them. ByWater Solutions pledges to share 100% of all developed code to the Koha community for the strengthening and advancement of the Koha ILS. For more information about ByWater Solutions, please visit: http://www.bywatersolutions.com

IPSWICH, Mass. — December 2, 2014 — EBSCO information Services and EasyBib have made it possible to directly export citations from EBSCO resources to EasyBib. The integration creates an effortless way for students and researchers to ethically use their resources.

EasyBib is an intuitive information literacy platform that provides citation, note taking and research tools. It is an accurate, fast and comprehensive way for educators to teach students how to become effective and organized researchers. EBSCO provides research content through hundreds of databases and historical archives as well as the ability to explore the library’s collection through a single search box via EBSCO Discovery Service™.

With the EBSCO integration with EasyBib, library users simply have to select the article they want to cite from one of the hundreds of EBSCO databases, historical archives or EBSCO Discovery Service and click on the EasyBib option in the export process. The user’s EasyBib account will open and allow the citation to be imported.

EasyBib Co-CEO and Co-Founder Neal Taparia says that the integration with EBSCO resources follows EasyBib’s dedication to improve the product and partner with the best resources available. “Our commitment to providing the best citation and research management tool is further improved with this recent integration. As one of the foremost database and discovery technologies in the world, EBSCO is an ideal partner in our goal to provide the best tools and resources to educators worldwide.”

According to EBSCO Senior Director of Product Management Harry Kaplanian, the ability to export citations to EasyBib helps to support information literacy and proper research habits. “EBSCO helps library users access content from many sources. The integration with EasyBib allows those users to give proper credit to those sources easily when using the widely used and helpful research management tool, EasyBib.”

About EasyBib
EasyBib is an intuitive information literacy platform that provides citation, note taking, and research tools that are easy-to-use and educational. EasyBib is not only accurate, fast, and comprehensive, but helps educators teach and students learn how to become effective and organized researchers.
EasyBib is a service of Imagine Easy Solutions, a tiny company that makes big products. Learn more here.

About EBSCO Information Services
EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) is the leading discovery service provider for libraries worldwide with more than 6,000 discovery customers in over 100 countries. EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS) provides each institution with a comprehensive, single search box for its entire collection, offering unparalleled relevance ranking quality and extensive customization. EBSCO is also the preeminent provider of online research content for libraries, including hundreds of research databases, historical archives, point-of-care medical reference, and corporate learning tools serving millions of end users at tens of thousands of institutions. EBSCO is the leading provider of electronic journals & books for libraries, with subscription management for more than 360,000 serials, including more than 57,000 e-journals, as well as online access to more than 650,000 e-books. For more information, visit the EBSCO website at: www.ebsco.com. EBSCO Information Services is a division of EBSCO Industries Inc., a family owned company since 1944.

Concordia University Texas Selects EBSCO Discovery Service™
~ EDS Gives Students the “Jump Start” They Were Looking for in Discovery ~

IPSWICH, Mass. — December 1, 2014 — Concordia University Texas has chosen EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS) from EBSCO Information Services to improve discovery of library collections. As a small university with a diverse group of students, the staff at the library of Concordia University Texas chose EDS for its intuitive search experience and state-of-the-art technology to provide quality and relevant results to their students’ queries.

Concordia University Texas Library did not have a discovery service when Director of Library Services, Mikail McIntosh-Doty started working there three years ago. Discovery services were a new idea to her back then and she thought it was only an option for “big libraries.” However, McIntosh-Doty realized that in addition to being an ideal solution for the world’s largest libraries, EBSCO Discovery Service would also fit the needs of its small and diverse student body by providing an easy-to-use search as well as features that deliver quality results. “EDS provides the ‘best match’ results when a student does a query, and these rich results help students select the best sources. We rely on relevancy ranking in EDS as well as using many of the features including discipline and scholarly peer-reviewed limiters, persistent links and citation format.”

EDS has also proven instrumental in reaching out to students not on campus. McIntosh-Doty says “Technology is the only way we can move students — from all across the state and beyond — from where they are to what they need. EDS helps us do that. Over a third of our students – those at centers across the state or in online programs – never enter our building, so having an almost “intuitive” way to get good resources was very important.”

EDS has been growing in popularity with students. In fact, according to McIntosh-Doty, students decided to re-name EDS to better reflect their experience with the discovery solution. “Students renamed our EDS ‘Jump Start’ and that is exactly what it does. EDS gives this diverse community a quick and effective way to begin their search for resources.”

The library has been observing a consistent increase in usage in library collections and is pleased that EDS enables them to see what resources are being used. In the near future, they hope to get Curriculum Builder LMS EDS Plug In up and running to create and manage course reading lists.

EBSCO Discovery Service creates a unified, customized index of an institution’s information resources, and an easy, yet powerful means of accessing all of that content from a single search box-searching made even more powerful because of the quality of its relevance and value ranking technology.

About EBSCO Information Services
EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) is the leading discovery service provider for libraries worldwide with more than 6,000 discovery customers in over 100 countries. EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS) provides each institution with a comprehensive, single search box for its entire collection, offering unparalleled relevance ranking quality and extensive customization. EBSCO is also the preeminent provider of online research content for libraries, including hundreds of research databases, historical archives, point-of-care medical reference, and corporate learning tools serving millions of end users at tens of thousands of institutions. EBSCO is the leading provider of electronic journals & books for libraries, with subscription management for more than 360,000 serials, including more than 57,000 e-journals, as well as online access to more than 650,000 e-books. For more information, visit the EBSCO website at: www.ebsco.com. EBSCO Information Services is a division of EBSCO Industries Inc., a family owned company since 1944.

North Bethesda, MD, November 25, 2014 – Hunter-Rice Health Sciences Library at Samaritan Health Center is now live on LibLime Koha 4.18 for all collection and patron management services. The hospital library located in Watertown, NY will now operate using LibLime Koha’s newest features including enhanced circulation policies, the Solr search engine, full faceted support in the OPAC, an embedded New Titles list, expanded functionality for expired and cancelled holds, and RDA support. As with all versions of LibLime Koha since 4.8, the entire application resides in the Plack environment for enhanced performance.

About Hunter-Rice Health Sciences Library and Samaritan Health Center
Samaritan Health Center, located north of Syracuse in upstate New York, is a not-for-profit community medical center and provider of emergency care as well as a variety of specialized medical services. The Hunter-Rice Health Sciences Library, headquartered at Samaritan, was founded in 1983 to serve the health information needs of Northern New York. Doctors and patients alike are welcome to use the library to seek out information on new procedures and research a variety of medical conditions free of charge. Hunter-Rice Health Sciences Library accommodates the local residents of Watertown as well as health care institutions across North County, NY via the Cooperative Hospital Library Program.

About LibLime - PTFS
LibLime – PTFS is the global leader in providing support for the Koha open source ILS. Rather than sell software licenses for static, hard-to-customize software products, the PTFS LibLime Division educates libraries about the benefits of open source, enabling them to make choices about how best to provide their communities and staff with better technology services. The PTFS LibLime Division then facilitates deployment of Koha in libraries by providing outstanding consulting, development, implementation, and support/hosting for libraries of all types and sizes. PTFS is also the developer of the world’s leading content management software, ArchivalWare, and specializes in meeting library personnel staffing requirements, digitization, and metadata keying services. For more information, see http://liblime.com or http://ptfs.com or http://archivalware.net.

EBSCO Discovery Service™ Selected by 25 Russian and Belarusian Universities
~ With EDS, Universities Enjoy Simple Point of Access to Library Resources and an Interface in Russian ~

IPSWICH, Mass. — November 24, 2014 — EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS) from EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) is now being used by more universities and academic institutions in Russia and Belarus. To date, 25 institutions have chosen EDS as their discovery solution. Among the institutions that have implemented EDS in these two countries, the Central Scientific Library UB Russian Academy of Science and the Russian State Library are two of the most prominent. Full-text linking capabilities, EDS’s simple point of access to all library resources, and an interface in Russian were common factors impacting these sites’ decision to implement EDS.

Library Director at the Central Scientific Library UB Russian Academy of Science, Polina Treskova, said that EDS’s Russian-speaking interface and simple point of access to the Library’s entire collection made EDS the perfect discovery service for the institution. “The functionality of EDS fully satisfies the needs of users of CSL UB RAS.”

Natalia Litvinova, Chief Librarian and Electronic Resource Coordinator for the Russian State Library, also says that EDS provides the single point of access and easy-to-use interface needed by library users. “EDS was certainly the right fit for the Russian State Library and its users, because we got a single access point to all content the Library provides, and this point is user-friendly and easy to understand using the native language of Russian users.”

Litvinova also pointed to the Russian State Library’s long relationship with EBSCO as a deciding factor in the decision. “We have a very positive experience both using EBSCO products and services and interacting with the EBSCO team, which is very competent and supportive. It certainly influenced our decision to choose EDS as a discovery service for the Library.” The Discipline Limited Searching feature and the widespread availability of most of the Library’s licensed resources in EDS were also major factors in the institution’s decision.

EBSCO Discovery Service creates a unified, customized index of an institution’s information resources, and an easy, yet powerful means of accessing all of that content from a single search box-searching made even more powerful because of the quality of its relevance and value ranking technology.

About EBSCO Information Services
EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) is the leading discovery service provider for libraries worldwide with more than 6,000 discovery customers in over 100 countries. EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS) provides each institution with a comprehensive, single search box for its entire collection, offering unparalleled relevance ranking quality and extensive customization. EBSCO is also the preeminent provider of online research content for libraries, including hundreds of research databases, historical archives, point-of-care medical reference, and corporate learning tools serving millions of end users at tens of thousands of institutions. EBSCO is the leading provider of electronic journals & books for libraries, with subscription management for more than 360,000 serials, including more than 57,000 e-journals, as well as online access to more than 600,000 e-books. For more information, visit the EBSCO website at: www.ebsco.com. EBSCO Information Services is a division of EBSCO Industries Inc., a family owned company since 1944.
###
For more information, please contact:
Kathleen McEvoy
Vice President of Communications
(800) 653-2726 ext. 2594kmcevoy@ebsco.com

A considerable expansion of Al Manhal’s global reach, this new step will put its content onto the digital shelves of nearly all libraries worldwide. The announcement represents a major extension of the companies’ partnership and will increase EBSCO’s offering while greatly expanding global discovery of Al Manhal content.

EBSCO Vice President of Product Management, Ken Breen, says working with Al Manhal is part of EBSCO’s commitment to provide a diversified collection of e-books and more choice to librarians and their patrons. “Providing content that our libraries need and want is a top priority for EBSCO. Our partnership with Al Manhal will help academic, corporate and government librarians seeking leading Arabic titles to add them to their collection in a cost-effective way since there are no markups or fees of any kind on EBSCO eBooks.”

By expanding their partnership, Al Manhal and EBSCO will maximize value to their library customers worldwide. The thousands of libraries that use EBSCO Discovery Service™ will be able to both explore the entire Al Manhal eLibrary and access the complete eBook database with a single click.

“Increasing worldwide discovery and usage of Al Manhal content is a key step in achieving our company vision,” said Mohamad Al Baghdadi, Al Manhal CEO. “With powerful indexing tools and the global reach of EBSCO's distribution network, this strategic partnership will help us distribute our eBooks to academic libraries all around the world.”

Expanding its partnership with EBSCO is yet another symbol of Al Manhal’s continued commitment to putting its content in the hands of researchers worldwide. With flexible pricing models, available free trials, subscriptions and perpetual access methods, the company is dedicated to connecting academia with the rich academic resources of the Arab world, and this agreement promises to do that and more.

Library patrons can find e-books while using EBSCO’s comprehensive and powerful discovery experience and are able to download e-books to mobile devices, including the Kindle Fire. EBSCO eBooks are available from EBSCO or through YBP's GOBI, Ingram's OASIS and Baker & Taylor's TitleSource. For more information on EBSCO eBooks go to: http://www.ebscohost.com/ebooks.

About EBSCO Information Services
EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) is the leading discovery service provider for libraries worldwide with more than 6,000 discovery customers in over 100 countries. EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS) provides each institution with a comprehensive, single search box for its entire collection, offering unparalleled relevance ranking quality and extensive customization. EBSCO is also the preeminent provider of online research content for libraries, including hundreds of research databases, historical archives, point-of-care medical reference, and corporate learning tools serving millions of end users at tens of thousands of institutions. EBSCO is the leading provider of electronic journals & books for libraries, with subscription management for more than 360,000 serials, including more than 57,000 e-journals, as well as online access to more than 650,000 e-books. For more information, visit the EBSCO website at: www.ebsco.com. EBSCO Information Services is a division of EBSCO Industries Inc., a family owned company since 1944.